Enough of Russia for a while so off up the Nile !

Primary Menu

Dendera and Abydos

At this point we were virtually “templed out” as they all seemed to be omnipresent !! First stop was Dendera – another vast complex smothered in intricate carvings to which ever deities it was built to celebrate:

Then onto Abydos for more of the same – these ones built for worship of Sety 1 ( a bad guy/god) and our old mate Rameses ll and dedicated to the cult of Osiris.

Historical Note: The reason that many of the statues and carving are badly defaced (especially facially) is that after 2-3000 years the Copts arrived in Egypt (Christians to you and me) and set about painstakingly chipping off the features of any one/thing that was not remotely Christian. They also lived in many of the temples lighting bonfires, much to the detriment of the 2000 year old paintwork. Vandalism on an industrial scale – but then the Coptic Christians were like that. They also built a large number of large monasteries along the “route”, many dedicated the “Flight into Egypt” by Mary, Jo & what’s his name and most of which claim to have been patronised by them on their way through. More on the Copts later………………

Don’t worry if you are starting to suffer from Temple fatigue: we move onto tombs next – In vast numbers with the occasional temple and or complex thrown in !!!